Results 1-20 of 1,006 for speaker:Geoffrey Robinson

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Geoffrey Robinson: I note the Minister's strictures about drivers, but will he also bear in mind the fact that the company involved has a terrible record? Therefore, will he—or one of his ministerial colleagues—stand ready to intervene personally if it fails to get an agreement with the drivers and others in the very near future?

Business, Innovation and Skills: Small and Medium-sized Businesses (12 Nov 2009)

Geoffrey Robinson: Will my right hon. Friend look at access to finance for research and development in manufacturing and, in particular, the position in Coventry, where Ericsson is sacking 700 skilled workers because it cannot access R and D money owing to its status as a cost centre, and not a profit centre? That seems a big restriction.

Olympics: Energy National Policy Statements (9 Nov 2009) has video

Geoffrey Robinson: I compliment my right hon. Friend on so clear-sighted and realistic a statement, but is he aware that the targets he sets for all three areas of energy supply are very ambitious, not least in respect of carbon capture and storage? I accept entirely what he says about the private sector, left to itself, not doing this on time, but could he set up a small team of capable officers in the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Banking Reform (3 Nov 2009) has video

Geoffrey Robinson: Will the Chancellor confirm, on the question of lending, that the banks' commitments are in respect of net lending only? Will he also confirm that a condition of the bankers' bonuses is that they will be tied to their banks achieving those levels of lending?

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Small Businesses (3 Nov 2009) has video

Geoffrey Robinson: Can the Minister tell us whether the bankers' bonuses have been tied to their meeting the lending promises and engagements into which they entered with the Government, and in particular with small businesses?

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: European Council (2 Nov 2009) has video

Geoffrey Robinson: May I congratulate the Prime Minister on a generally very satisfactory outcome to the European Council's meetings and may I press him on Afghanistan? How are we going to eliminate corruption there as long as the President—and, particularly his brother in Kandahar—remain in office? It is difficult, I know, but this has to be confronted one way or another.

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Afghanistan (2 Nov 2009) has video

Geoffrey Robinson: Will my right hon. Friend add a fourth condition to the three that he listed, namely that there should be substantial progress in the elimination of corruption at the centre in Afghanistan and in Kandahar province? Will he bear in mind that any further measures relating to presidential elections will be a pointless and dangerous exercise until that progress is made?

Written Answers — Health: McKinsey and Company (19 Oct 2009)

Geoffrey Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on the report commissioned by his Department from McKinsey and Company on reducing costs.

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Afghanistan and Pakistan (14 Oct 2009) has video

Geoffrey Robinson: The whole House will be greatly reassured by what my right hon. Friend has said about the need to reconcile and reintegrate many of those who are loosely called Taliban, but who are certainly not under the direction of the three main insurgencies. He will be aware that in Iraq, 100,000 Sunnis were signed up, reintegrated and paid by the Americans to join the Iraqi national army in a matter of...

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: G8 Summit (13 Jul 2009)

Geoffrey Robinson: May I assure my right hon. Friend that the House, and indeed the whole country, will be very reassured by his assurance that we are strictly realistic in our aims in Afghanistan? While part of the realism has to be the defeat of the Taliban, may not a broader political settlement involve some basic accommodation with the tribal factions, notably those of the Northern Alliance and the Pashtun?...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Reforming Financial Markets (8 Jul 2009)

Geoffrey Robinson: I apologise for missing the Chancellor's first few remarks in his statement. May I compliment him on resisting the seductive structural arguments coming from the Opposition parties, both with regard to splitting up the activities of banks and with regard to doing away with the tripartite system, a move recommended so strongly by the Opposition? Does he not share my surprise at the ease with...

Oral Answers to Questions — Cabinet Office: Voluntary Sector (1 Jul 2009) has video

Geoffrey Robinson: Will my right hon. Friend find time to examine the proposal made only a few months ago—I understand that it is still subject to detailed evaluation in her Department—for lifetime legacies to be brought into the field of charitable giving? That would make a big difference at a time of great difficulty for charities.

Written Answers — Health: Blood Products (26 Jun 2009)

Geoffrey Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will direct the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs to expedite its consideration of the adoption of pathogen inactivation measures; and if he will make a statement.

Opposition Day — [13th Allotted Day]: Business Rates (15 Jun 2009) has video

Geoffrey Robinson: I suggest that there is probably a lot of support for what the hon. Member for Northampton, South (Mr. Binley) has just said and that making the relief automatic would help in several ways. However, time is brief and I want to put to Ministers a specific proposal for saving some money for small companies in the city of Coventry at this difficult time. Coventry's Business Improvement District...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Bradford & Bingley (Bonds) (9 Jun 2009) has video

Geoffrey Robinson: I congratulate my hon. Friend on the development at Lloyds. May I ask him to look further at the form of recapitalisation executed there—namely the reduction in high interest rate preference shares for normal equity—to see whether or not he could consider, in the case of Bradford & Bingley and others, using high-yielding bonds too? They could be repaid and therefore make it...

Bill Presented: Clause 92 — Duties of senior accounting officers of large companies (13 May 2009) has video

Geoffrey Robinson: The point of the person being on the board, as opposed to being an officer, is that being on the board carries certain specific personal liabilities. The chief financial officer or the person with tax responsibilities might in many cases be taken off the board precisely so that they avoid that sort of responsibility, which a directorship carries with it. Will my right hon. Friend undertake to...

Bill Presented: Clause 92 — Duties of senior accounting officers of large companies (13 May 2009) has video

Geoffrey Robinson: There is a natural preoccupation that systems should be robust, but it has always struck me that systems can be as robust, detailed and complicated as we like, but they are only as good as the people who operate them. It is good that this complementarity has been introduced. Systems must be robust, but in order to make sure that they work properly, the first officer responsible has to see to...